1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to set top box communication systems. More particularly, this invention relates to AC power line communication systems adapted for use between a set top box and a telephone line.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of set top box communication systems have been proposed. However, typically these systems require dedicated telephone wiring or communication cabling between the set top box and the telephone communication equipment. Therefore, such systems fail to provide set top box communication in areas or installations where dedicated telephone lines are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
For general background material the reader is directed to the following U.S. patents each of which is incorporated in its entirety for the material contained therein. U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,308 describes a home network architecture that has an internal digital network for interconnecting devices in the home.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,204 describes a system and method for providing interactive multimedia services to subscriber premises utilizing wireless and power line distribution within the subscriber premise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,980 describes a broadband customer premises equipment interface device that interfaces with conventional telephones, screen phones, and broadband data and video devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,836 describes an undesirable energy suppression system in a contention based communications network having a shared communication path between a plurality of remote points and a headend in a simplex network or a bi-directional network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,116 describes an apparatus for distributing and controlling distribution of externally and locally generated communications signals to and between a plurality of subscribers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,340 describes a system which includes a remote keyboard and a remote pointer to control a personal computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,886,732 describes a set-top electronics and network interface unit arrangement that is connected to an internal digital network interconnecting devices in the home.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,556 describes an apparatus that is adapted to provide a telephone line connection over a coax cable distribution system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,919 describes a system for communicating information from a television viewer to a central site that includes a remote control unit for sending command signals from the viewer to a television or video cassette recorder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,486 describes an indoor environmental condition control and energy management system that includes a plurality of inputs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,074 describes a World Wide Web browser software that is implemented in a processing system housed in a set-top box connected to a television and communicating over a wide-area network with one or more servers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,387 describes a home network architecture that has an internal digital network interconnecting devices in the home.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,991 describes web browser software implemented in a set-top box as part of a client system communicating over the Internet with one or more servers that allows a user to adjust the position of a screen image displayed on a monitor through World-Wide Web pages displayed on the monitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,557 describes a method and system for enabling point-to-point and multicast communication in a network using three types of communications channels, namely, one or more upstream payload channels, one or more upstream control channels and one or more downstream channels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,461 describes a method and computer program product for automatically regenerating information at a client system without user intervention in the event of power disruption or disruption in communication between the client system and a server.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,085 describes a visual display device that is provided for delivering a generated image, preferably combinable with environment light, to the eye of a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,563 describes web browser software that is implemented in a processing system housed in a set-top box connected to a television and communicating over a wide-area network with one or more servers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,861 describes a home network architecture that has an internal digital network interconnecting devices in the home.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,836 describes web browser software implemented in a set-top box as part of a client system communicating over the Internet with one or more servers that allows a user to adjust the picture quality of a monitor through World-Wide Web pages displayed on the monitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,690 describes a power supply control method, system and computer program patent for use in supplying power to a plurality of electric apparatuses connected to a power line having a predetermined maximum consumable power, where power consumption of the power line is measured as a first power consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,765 describes a data server that implements a video-on-demand system by providing multiple channels of video and audio on which video programs can play simultaneously and independently.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,268 describes World Wide Web browser software that is implemented in a processing system housed in a set-top box connected to a television and communicating over a wide-area network with one or more servers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,689 describes browser software that is implemented in a set-top box as part of a client system communicating over the Internet with one or more servers that allows a user to navigate using a remote control through World-Wide Wide Web pages in which a plurality of hypertext anchors are displayed on a television.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,829 describes a hand-held device and system for monitoring and controlling electronic devices.